Flanger



(No Model.)

A. F. PRIEST.

FLANGER.

No. 467,349. Patented Jan. 19,1892.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUSTUS F. PRIEST, OF 'WEST SUPERIOR, WISCONSIN.

FLANGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 467,349, dated January 19, 1892.

Application filed July 21, 1891. Serial No. 400,202. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS F. PRIEST, a citizen of the United States, residing at West Superior, in the county of Douglas and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flangers; and-I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to snow- Hangers. Though capable of general application, it was especially designed to meet the requirements of street-car work.

Hitherto, so far as I am aware, the flangingblades used on street-cars have been supported from the car-body. The effect has been to give to the same all the vertical movements of the carbody imparted under the varying loads and conditions of roadway, thus interfering with the efficiency of the flanging-blades. I overcome this difficulty by supporting the iianger from the car-truck by rigid hangers depending therefrom. As the car-truck frame has little or no motion on the axle and is entirely independent of the motion of the car-body, the flangingblades may be carried at a uniform level. The flanging-blades are supported by the hangers with freedom for vertical andlateral motion thereon. The hangers are preferably made yoke-shaped, and the flanging-blades are carried at the extremities of a flanger-bar embraced by the said yokes, which are so formed as to permit the vertical and lateral motion, but to prevent motion in any other direction. To the primary or principal flanging-blades I attach supplementary blades or cutters conformed to the face of the rail in such a way as to clear the path both of the face and the flange of the car-wheel. The

flanger-bar, with the flanging-blades, is adjustable at will by a Windlass and flexible connections passing over suitable guide-sheaves and are controllable by the driver on the car-platform by means of a lock-plate and hand-pull united by a flexible connection with a crank-arm on the Windlass. The blades are maintained central of their working position with freedom for the necessary lateral motion by a spring-finger fixed at its upper end to the truck-frame and having its free end embraced by lugs on the flanger-bar. The hang ers are adjustable on the truck-frame.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like letters refer to like parts throughout.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of a street-car equipped with the flanger. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same, looking from the front, some of the parts being broken away. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a detail of one of the supplementary blades or cutters.

A 13 represents one of the trucks, 0 the carbody, and D the truck-frame, of an ordinary standard street-car. The truck-frame D is mounted on the axle of the truck in such way as to have little or no movement independent of the truck, while the car-body is supported from the truckframe by the springs O.

E is a cross-bar fixed at the front of the truck-frame. F are the yoke-shaped hangers, adjustably secured to the said cross-bar by the upper and lower nuts 6. The hangers are contracted at their lower ends to form a seat for the flanger-bar.

Gis the Hanger-bar, resting in the contracted portion of the yokes F, free for vertical and lateral motion therein. The extremities of the fianger-bar are bent backward at an angle of about thirty degrees.

Fixed to the angular extensions of the flanger-bar are the flanging-blades H, overhanging the rails and formed of mold-board shape.

K are the track-rails, formed with the flangeblade K.

H are the supplementary Hanging-blades or cutters, which are conformed to the face of the rail, so as to fit over the portion of the same traversed by the rim and the flange of the car-wheel. These cutters II are detachably connected with the blades. They are preferably formed with a back-turned projection or tail-piece h, constituting the wearing-surface against the side of the rail, and have a downwardly-projecting lip h, fitting the flange-groove K.

L is the spring-finger, fixed to the truckframe, and Z are projecting studs or lugs on the danger-bar, spaced apart from each other and embracing the free end of the springfinger.

M P is a windlass mounted on the under side of the cross-barE and having its flexible connections M united to the flan ger-bar outside the hangers and passing over suitable guide-sheaves N, supported from the crossbar E by staple-irons N or otherwise. The Windlass M P has its crank-arm P united by the flexible connection 1), passing over a guidesheave p on the under side of the car-platform to a hand pull P, located above the same, and engagable with projections on a lock-plate Q, fixed thereon in a vertical position. windlass being attached at opposite points on the sheave will raise both ends of the flan gerbars uniformly by motion from the crank-arm P, Where they may be held by the hand-pull P and lock-plate Q.

The operation is evident from the description already given. It should be noted that the supplementary fianging-blades or cutters having the projecting lips, which traverse the flange of the track-rail, will necessitate a lat eral motion of the flanger-bar with reference to the car-truck frame. This is permitted by the way in which the flanger-bar is mounted, and the flanger-bar is again returned to its normal position by the spring-finger L.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows- 1. The combination, with a street-car truckframe having little or no vertical movementas compared with the car-body, of rigid hangers supported from said truck-frame, a flangerbar mounted on said hangers with freedom for vertical movement, and a pair of flangingblades secured one to each end of the said flanger-bar, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the street -car truck-frame having little or no vertical movement, of rigid hangers supported from said truck-frame, a flanger-bar supported by said hangers, flan ging-blades fixed to said flangerbar, and a hoisting device for raising the said bar and blades, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the street-car truck-frame having little or no vertical movement, of rigid hangers supported from said truck-frame, a flanger-bar mounted on said hangers with freedom for vertical and lateral movements, and a pair of flanging-blades se- The flexible connections M from the cured one to each end of the fianger-bar, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination, with the truck-frame, of the flanger-bar, the flanging-blades, and the yoke-shaped hangers fixed to the truckframe, embracing the Hanger-bar and supporting the same with freedom for vertical and lateral motion only, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the street-car truck-frame having little or no vertical movement, of rigid hangers supported from the truck-frame, a fianger-bar supported by said hangers with freedom for vertical and lateral motion, flanging-blades fixed to said bar, and a hoisting device for raising the said bar and blades, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the truck-frame, of the rigid hangers of yoke shape and contracted at their lower ends, the flanger-bar seated in said yokes, the fianging-blades fixed to said bar, and the hoisting device comprising the windlass and guide-sheaves, the flexible connectionsfrom the windlass to the opposite ends of the fianger-bar, the lock-plate and hand-pull on the car-platform, and the flexible connection from the hand-pull to the crank-arm of the windlass, substantially as described. L

7. The combination, with a car and a fianger having freedom for lateral motion, of a centering device adapted to yieldingly hold the fianger central of its working position.

8. The combination, with the truck-frame, of the rigid hangers supported from the frame, the flan ger-bar supported on said hangers with freedom for vertical and lateral motion, the flanging blades fixed to said bar, and the spring-linger depending from the truck-frame and engaging the said bar for yieldingly holding the. same in its central position, substantially as described.

9. The combination, with the truck-frame and the flanger-bar, of the rigid hangers for supporting the bar, adjustably secured to the said frame, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AUGUSTUS F. PRIEST.

\Vitnesses:

JAMES E. TRASK, FRANK D. MERCHANT. 

